


Chemistry

by lilacSkye



Series: Some Believe in Fairy Stories [1]
Category: RWBY
Genre: F/F, Plotless Fluff, Pre-Slash, Pre-Volume 3 (RWBY), Ruby is a dramatic dork, studying together
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-06-14
Updated: 2018-06-14
Packaged: 2019-05-23 09:44:33
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,486
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14931881
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lilacSkye/pseuds/lilacSkye
Summary: Weiss tutors Ruby, and Ruby realizes she might like Weiss more than she had accounted for.





	Chemistry

**Author's Note:**

> Old fic I wrote an year ago, part of a series I never got around to complete, and that I thought I had lost before finding it again in a forgotten folder. It's really bad, I know.

Ruby Rose liked to think she was no slacker.

Sure, she wasn't the best student ever seen at Beacon in terms of academic results, but she could still hold her ground, and in any case when sparring and fighting classes was involved she definitely was one of the best, modesty aside.

She loved the academy and the several layers of preparation it offered for whoever wished to be a Hunter. There was a reason other kingdoms had taken after it when it came down to build their own Hunting school.

Yet, despite Ruby's best efforts, Dust Chemistry apparently hated her with a vengeance. And the feeling was mutual.

"I can't do this." She suddenly blurted out loud, her voice echoing through the quiet library. A few other students lifted their heads from their books and notes, looking for the source of the sudden noise, and scowled lightly, but she paid no mind to them and rested her head against her crossed arms on the table. The sudden darkness was a more than welcome relief to her pounding headache.

"Don't be silly," Weiss' stern voice replied from somewhere in front of her, as the rustling sound of a page being turned quite sharply gave further edge to her words. "You just need to focus."

"But I am focused!" Ruby lifted her head slightly and grimaced when she was met by Weiss' unamused stare. "But this thing hates me! Why do I even need to know how to mix Dust? I use premade bullets and nothing else!"

She had the vague feeling that bashing Dust in front of the Schnee Dust Company heiress, who used a vast array of different Dust compounds - all her creations - while fighting, was not the brightest idea she had in all day, but at the moment she couldn't be bothered to care. She was so going to fail this test, nothing short of a miracle could save her now.

She saw Weiss pulling a weird face, a mix of annoyance and sympathy, which was strange, because usually whenever Dust was mentioned Weiss was the first to jump up and give a flattering speech for its many properties and bottomless potential.

Then, much to Ruby's astonishment, she picked up her notebook and stood up, walking around the table and sitting down on the empty chair next to Ruby. She placed the notebook in front of them and started flipping through the pages. Ruby could see green and blue highlighted sentences and formulas flickering past as Weiss kept going through her notes.

"What exactly do you not understand?"

"Huh," Ruby frowned, thinking. The temptation to just say _'Everything'_ was incredibly strong, but she got the feeling it would only upset Weiss, and if the Dust goddess was feeling so magnanimous to offer Ruby - a common mortal - her help, Ruby was not going to do anything that might cause her to change her mind.

Or at least, not intentionally.

"How do elements react together, I suppose. Like, I know of the reduction number, but how do I know which one I have to pick when I've got something like--this" she grabbed her own notebook and pointed at the formula that had given her so many problems, trying to conceal the scribbled attempts at solving it lying underneath it, or the messy doodles she drew when said attempts failed miserably. She caught sight of Weiss' eyebrows drawing close, obviously displeased by Ruby's artistic way to express her frustration.

Weiss sighed, and struggled Ruby's hand away to better see what approach she had taken. Her eyes quickly scanned the messy bundle of numbers and acronyms and scattered insults on the page. Then she settled the chair so that their hips were basically touching every time Weiss leaned forward. It was a rather distracting feeling, Ruby thought, and all of a sudden the library felt much hotter than before. She threw a look across the room, to see if a familiar mane of golden hair had entered the room, but found nothing. Not that she was surprised, Yang was highly allergic to libraries any way.

"Pay attention," Weiss scolded her, her voice sharp and snappy like a slap on the face. Ruby started and attempted to salute.

"Yes, ma'am, I apologize, ma'am!"

Weiss rolled her eyes and shook her head, as she always did when she thought Ruby was being obnoxious in some way, but they were so close that Ruby saw the corners of Weiss' lips twitch, as if she was forcefully repressing a smile that was fighting tooth and nail to appear.

It was the first time she saw Weiss reacting with amusement - regardless of how hidden it was - to her antics. It was... strange. Weiss was never less than perfect, prim and proper, determination incarnate, no-nonsense tolerated. She rarely laughed at Yang's corny jokes and puns, and wasn't really prone to waste her time on anything unproductive, like Ruby's favorite activities appeared to be.

Ruby's heart did the strangest thing in her chest then: it stumbled and fluttered, skipping a beat or two. Worried, she grasped at her shirt, wondering if something was wrong with her health. She was too young to die!

"I'm almost scared to ask," Weiss interrupted her train of thought. "But, are you okay? You look quite... feverish."

She placed an impossibly pale hand on Ruby's forehead, delicately brushing away Ruby's fringe and tucking the long strands of dark red hair behind her ear-shell. Despite the look of it, it was warm, and the additional heat spurred Ruby's already crazy heart in an erratical galloping rhythm.

"I think I'm having a heart attack." Ruby mumbled, staring intently in front of her and trying to ignore Weiss's piercing gaze.

And Weiss... Weiss actually _laughed_ , and it was a gorgeous sound, crystalline and clear. Ruby was really going to die.

"Now you're just being ridiculous. If you would please stop coming up with one crazier excuse after another, we can go back to our formulas. Since we're partners, we can't afford you to fail this exam."

Weiss then proceeded to slowly, patiently explain the basis of Dust and its reactions, using practical examples to further simplifying the process. It was mesmerising, seeing Weiss so dedicated into teaching Ruby everything she needed to know about Dust. It was like seeing another Weiss altogether, a Weiss that liked what she did, that was less focused on the perfect results and more on the spreading knowledge. Sometimes she would smile, tiny smiles but not less genuine, and give an encouraging nod when Ruby managed to correctly balance a reaction entirely on her own.

She found out she really, _really_ liked this Weiss.

"Better now?" Weiss inquired when they managed to finally solve the formula that gave Ruby such a hard time. Ruby was feeling fairly dazed, both from the elating, victorious feeling she got when she finally conquered the alchemic fiend, and - most of all - from the warmth radiating in enveloping ripples from the spot Weiss' shoulder made contact with hers.

"Y-yeah. I think I got this..." she hesitated, before making eye contact with Weiss, "Thank you... you-you're really good at this stuff, you know?"

"But of course," Weiss waved her hand, a rather brisk return to her usual, almighty self. "The SDC prides itself with the finest mixtures and compounds on the market. It's only natural a Schnee would excel in such basic Dust Chemistry problems."

There was something mildly diminishing in her tone that Ruby didn't really like, but she decided not to comment on it, opting instead to let Weiss bask in her - for once, actually deserved - SDC glory. She shook her head.

"No, I meant... You're really great at..." she stumbled on her words, especially when Weiss leveled a vaguely confused look on her that looked so uncharacteristically innocent and clueless that Ruby struggled to breathe. "You're great at...teaching, and explaining... and make it simple to understand."

"Oh," Weiss whispered, and if Ruby's sight was as good as she thought it was, that was a faint trace of a blush blooming on Weiss' cheeks. Suddenly they both turned away, too embarrassed to hold each other's gaze. "Well, thank you. You're... actually a good student yourself, when you put your mind to it."

Doodling sessions during Port's classes were suddenly evoked on the front of Ruby's mind, and she couldn't help a sheepish grin from curving her lips upwards.

"I take it we're finished, aren't we?" Weiss abruptly stood up, her usual grace and fluidity completely absent. She looked snappish and ready to run away, and she kept readjusting a non-existent stray lock of hair behind her ear as she hastily gathered her books and notes and all but shoved them into her bag. "I'll go ahead and take a table in the cafeteria, you go look for your sister and Blake. I bid you goodbye."

And with that final rant she was gone in a blur of white and pale blue, leaving Ruby there, gaping at the spot Weiss had filled with warmth and a kindness she wouldn't have ever given to the heiress, now empty and void and cold. For a breathless second, she wished she hadn't got how to do the exercise, just so Weiss could stay behind and explain it to her again, and be comfortable and kind, rather than her usual cold persona.

Dejectedly, she began picking up her stuff as well and stomped off the room.

* * *

Ruby had to admit she was kinda nervous as she waited for the professor to call her up to the desk and give back her test. She watched as her classmates filed past, one by one, and went back to their seats, their papers clutched tightly in their hands. Jaune had been the first to be called, and now he looked pretty sick, even if Pyrrha and Ren were trying to comfort him. Nora looked like she just wanted to break the professor's legs.

Ever so slowly, the pile of papers on the desk grew smaller and smaller, until finally the professor's shrill voice called for "Rose Ruby!", and Ruby wished a Grimm would suddenly appear at the window and swallow her whole.

She threw a panicked look at Weiss at her side. The test had been brutal and Ruby was not sure of how it turned out. She was sure Weiss' help had been crucial to avoid a crushing failure, but if it turned out not to be enough to pass it she didn't know how she could ever face Weiss again. Especially since it was such an important test to pass to the next year.

But Weiss grabbed her hand and gave it a light squeeze, the tiniest smile gracing her lips. Ruby's terror seemed to melt away at the contact, and she returned the gesture.

Feeling dazed, Ruby walked up to the desk, gripped tightly the paper at the top of the pile, the icy cold eyes of the tiny, old professor boring holes into her skull through the thick lenses of his over-sized glasses, and with a sigh she flipped the paper.

The world seemed to stop.

B+. She got a B+. In a Dust test. In _this_ test.

She turned and positively skipped back to her seat. Utterly uncaring of the teasing chuckles wafting from where Cardin Winchester and his goons were seated, she plopped herself back onto the chair, beaming at Weiss at her side. Who, in return, smiled and nodded, like a teacher proud of her student's result.

"See, I knew you could do it if I were to help you out." She said as she rose to her feet when the professor called her name. Ruby watched as she made her way with an air of absolute confidence, her hair swaying and dancing on her shoulder with each step she took. In a second she was back, and literally nobody was surprised - not even Weiss - upon seeing the heiress got A+. Again.

It was a miracle Ruby remembered there were people around them, among which a very skittish Yang waiting for her own test and grumbling something about Ruby cheating because Weiss helped her, or she would have thrown her arms around Weiss' shoulders and pulled her into a rib-crushing hug. So she merely grabbed her shoulders and shook her until her hands were slapped away.

"This is a miracle!" She beamed at Weiss. "We need to celebrate!"

"Please, it's perfectly normal."

Oh yeah, it _was_ normal for Weiss to get full marks, after all. She watched as Yang came back to her seat and crumpled the paper in her hand with such viciousness Ruby was amazed in didn't tear apart. Fortunately, Blake hurried to console her; as it was now, if Ruby were to even mention the test to Yang she would only get a mouthful of 'you traitor!'

She pulled out her scroll and typed a text as quick as her trembling hands allowed her to, all the while keeping an eye on the professor and Yang. Fortunately, the old man was too busy berating Cardin for his abysmal result, and Yang was still reduced to a bundle of golden hair sprawled on a desk. She passed the device to Weiss from under the table.

_"What about ice cream? There's a parlor in town that has the best Vanilla and Strawberry of the whole kingdom"_

Weiss threw her a weird look, but took the scroll, deleted the text and typed in another one.

_"This is foolish. While I understand you're glad you passed, you should invest this time to work on your weaknesses and improve."_

Ruby's mouth twisted upon reading Weiss' reply. Always the killjoy.

  _"Have you ever have ice cream to begin with?"_

Weiss startled and blushed so heavily that Ruby knew instantly she hit bull's eye. She quickly added in another text.

_"I know you'll love it. Please? Pretty please? It's on me, I swear! You pass so much time studying, you really need to melt a little!"_

_"And having an iced dessert is supposed to help me doing that?"_

Ruby grinned. Weiss' ice wall was starting to show some cracks if she was resorting to snarky bantering, it was just a matter of dealing the finishing move.

_"I bet it will manage to make even you feel all giddy and sweet. I know, it seems impossible, but that is the power of Ice Cream."_

Weiss glared at her, but she allowed herself a tiny grin as she wrote her reply.

_"It's a challenge then. The Ice Queen vs the Ice Cream."_

Ruby laughed softly, earning herself a withering look from Blake, who shook her head and eyed Ruby and Weiss like she couldn't believe they would pick that moment, of all moments, to flirt. Both girls bowed their heads in a quiet apology, and Ruby snatched up the chance to whisper something in Weiss’s ear.

“You’re on.”

**Author's Note:**

> I should have the ice cream date somewhere. I'll post it if I find it, and if y'all wish me to :D Thanks you for reading!! :D :D :D


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